28 August 2015

Accommodation

If y'all have been reading this for more than this post, you'll know I have disabled kids. One of them profoundly so. I spend a lot of time and energy working at getting him accommodations to get by in the world. Special Education Assistants, IEPs (individual education plans), quieter showings of movies, disability day at the fair, getting through airport security, safety equipment, etc. We're in the process of trying to get him an autism support dog, and that'll mean a lot of places will have to accommodate his support dog.

And still yet, the hardest thing is food. Crackle is 9. He has the impulse control of a dog in a squirrel den. He is incapable of resisting yummy looking food. He either doesn't understand how sick it will make him, or is unable to resist despite the knowledge. He will take a cookie right out of a stranger's hand, and put it in his mouth. And I don't mean the stranger was offering it. I mean, it was the stranger's cookie, and she was going to eat it herself. He is ridiculously sensitive to gluten, corn, dairy, and a few other things. And that cookie would lay him out for a month. Not exaggerating. A month. The first week would be

I can't take him to church because there is food at every event and I can't keep him safe in that environment.

I can't take him to events with other autistic kids because every single one of them has "snacks" (i.e. crackers and cheese.)

I can't take him to the grocery store.

I can't take him to the playground unless no other kids are there.

I can't take him to a restaurant.

I can't sign him up for kids programs through the local rec centre. They ALL have snack breaks. Any lessons that are longer than 1 hour have a snack break. Even the 75 minute classes. WHY?!

I can't take him to other people's houses. Seriously, think about your home. Can you guarantee there are no crumbs? If so, you have no kids.

Now, obviously, I'm not asking for a gluten free world (though if global warming destroys the wheat crop forever, that'll be a happy side effect for me... JOKING. Chill.) I'm not asking for anyone to not let their kids eat at a playground. But how about one food free event per year at church? One food-free event with the autism kids. One. Just one. And really, do your kids HAVE to eat those fucking goldfish crackers in the library? The library? Since when is it okay to have food in the library? Ours has a sign up asking not to bring in peanuts. They refused to include gluten, dairy or corn. How about just don't bring in food?

And lastly, I'd like to be able to take him to my Mom's utterly pristine house. But my asswipe of a brother lives with her, and apparently, it's too much to ask for him not to drink beer or eat gluten for the few hours I'm there with Crackle for Nanna's birthday. Now, yes, beer doesn't have crumbs. But I gave him a chance. I let him drink it here at my house, and he left the can where Crackle could, and did, get it. I snatched it out of his hand when it was millimeters from his mouth. So he had his chance. How fucking selfish do you have to be to refuse to accommodate your own nephew for a few hours, so he doesn't get horrifically sick? It's mindboggling. Oh, and it's not like I'm asking this on game day, once a week, or anything. No. This will be our first time there in 6 years.

Some days, shit is easy. The heavens open up with nice strangers who smile at his noises, his movements, his socks and offer him rides on their boats or to pet their dog. Other days, I have to fight my own brother for the easiest thing ever. A few hours where he doesn't eat the things my son can't eat. It's just so frustrating.

10 August 2015

Politicky rambling

Oh how summer eats my time! No time for blogging. But I have a few things that have been roaming around in my brain, knocking out cobwebs and generally making me NEED to write. So here goes. Brace yourselves. This will not be linear.

As all my comrades know, I'm a socialist. Happy, proud, NDP. Mostly happy anyway. When Mulcair first announced that he wouldn't debate without Stevil there, I was choked. But I got thinking about it, and it occurs to me that Stevil fucked him over. If he doesn't debate, the Liberals call him out on being just like Harper. If he does debate, well, that can't go any way but wrong. Debating without Harpy would be a disaster. That would allow the Cons to take every word said at the debate and twist it. Rather than calling the NDP out in the moment and allowing them to respond, they'd call them out after and completely control the information flow. Any clarifications, additions, etc. after the fact, would be said to be backtracking, whereas it would seem much more organic in the moment. It's a fools game to let the Cons control the narrative. They're good enough at that without walking into their trap.

So that's the first thing. Next up is young Turdeau. Yes, he's pretty. Yes, he's sexy (if you're into raw ambition... ew). No, none of that means he's not qualified. It's gross when people do that to women. It's gross when people do that to him. Stop the sexualization.

And speaking of sexualization and Turdeau. The infamous tit pic. Norman Spector was losing his shit on Twitter about how Turdeau's posing with a topless woman at a Pride event was a serious error in judgement that casts doubt on his ability to lead. Holy shit, breasts are powerful! Just being near some bare ones disqualifies men from leadership. As I told him there, it is perfectly legal for a woman to be topless. A man posing with her is not doing anything illegal or immoral. There is no lack of judgment here. Unless we suddenly live in Saudi Arabia where women are required to be covered a certain amount before they're decent enough to be seen in public, Turdeau did nothing wrong, and everyone is making mountains ... Hmm, different metaphor needed.

Now, if you want a real show of bad judgment, take a look at Stevil's promise to make traveling to terrorism hotspots a crime. Could someone remind him that he's not Khrushchev? So my friend's boyfriend, who was born in Iran, but has been a Canadian citizen since he was 14 can't go back to Iran to visit his ailing grandparents? THAT is bad judgment.

And as for Turdeau, his bad judgment was voting for bill C-51, being pro-pipeline, and being rabidly pro-Israel and/or anti-Palestine. That's some magnificently bad judgment.

More magnificently bad judgment is from Christy Clark's horrific BC government. From fracking, to dumping toxic shit in the water, to this fucking nightmare. The government returned children who were sexually assaulted by their father TO THEIR FATHER, ignoring the court. And when the mother sued and won, Clark is appealing. Appalling. MCFD is an absolute clusterfuck. They manage autism funding, and I can assure you, that's been nothing but a nightmare. I cannot even begin to imagine this woman's grief.

And speaking of grief, OMFG America. What the fuck? When Megyn Kelly is your voice of feminism, when Mike Brown's buddy is gunned down by undercover cops (with no cameras of course), when Donald Motherfucking Trump is a GOP frontrunner? It's time to just close up shop.

You know what would be really fascinating? Knowing which candidate Harper wants to win the US primaries.

And if you stayed through all that, you're my favourite.